Titan (world)
For other meanings of '''Titan' within Titannica please see Titan (disambiguation)'' Titan is the name of the Fighting Fantasy world. It is where the majority of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy books are set, as well as providing the setting for the Sorcery! epic, most of the novels, and many of the other affiliated publications. It is treated in detail in Titan: The Fighting Fantasy World, a guide book written by Marc Gascoigne (though credited to Jackson and Livingstone) in 1986 (ISBN 0-14-032127-6). Titan as a Setting "The world of Titan is an extremely dangerous place. Mankind and its allies huddle in fortified settlements, for beyond the castle walls the wild lands stretch across three continents. Out in the wastelands, Orc tribes war with each other for dominance. Savage monsters roam at will in search of food. Evil sorcerers ready their inhuman armies for battle. No one, surely, would venture out into such inhospitable places - unless the rewards were so great a hero couldn't possibly refuse!"- The Book 'Allansia', late 3rd century AC. Physical Geography The world of Titan is made up of three main s, other smaller land masses and the remainder being made up of various oceans and their tributory seas. The physical geography of the world is defined by these elements, each of which has its own distinct make-up. The main continents are: *Allansia; *the Old World; and *Khul. Allansia Allansia is the largest of the three continents, and the most familiar to readers of the Fighting Fantasy series with 23 of the 59 books in the main series being set there, and a further 10 publications also based in this continent. The continent reaches from the highest latitudes of Titan, down to sub-tropical regions. Although once part of a greater landmass, Irritaria, the continent now has no land connection to any other continent and thus has a vast uninterupted coastline. The Sea of Pearls is the largest body of water indenting the continent, followed by the Gulf of Shamuz. There are also numerous islands off the continent's coast. In this broad sweep there is a vast array of environments from frozen wastes to hot deserts, temperate forest to tropical jungle. The continent can be divided into a number of great regions which include: *'The Ice Wastes' - an icy waste land with giant ranges of mountains that mark its southern extent, i.e. the Icefinger Mountains and the Freezeblood Mountains. These ranges shelter the north of the continent from the cold winds of the Frozen Plateau which stretch even further north. *'Frostholm' - Is the name given to the harsh northeast corner of the continent, which os set apart geographically by its many mountains and fjords and the jagged coastline along Bjorngrim's Sea. *'The Great Plains' - made up of **''The Teeming Plains'' - The extreme western to northwestern area of the contintent also called Allansia, which leant its name to the rest of the continent. In contrast to the desolate frozen north its is a land of fertile plains with unpredicatble weather varying from humid summers to snow bound winters. It is largely moorland interspersed with hills and forests and many rivers cross it, flowing into the Western Ocean. **''The Flatlands'' - rolling plains that are a vast grassy wilderness dominating the centre of the continent which stretch all the way to the eastern coast on the Sea of Pearls. In the northeast corner of the Flatlands are temperate forests such as the Forest of the Night. **''The Eastern Coast'' - a vastly irregular coastline indented regularly by bays and inlets varying greatly in size, and including the Sea of Pearls. The Shabak Peninsula is the more fertile region of this eastern area of the continent although it is beset by storms and gales sweeping in from the Ocean of Tempests. The tempestuous Bay of Storms and Bay of Kulak complete the eastern coastline along with the largest of Allansia's many islands (Kulak Island, Jitar and Solani) This coastline is geologically young, having been formed less than two thousand years ago by the splitting of Irritaria. Inland the great plains of Bronze and Bones complete the vast eastern sweep across the centre of the continent from the Teeming Plains in the northwest, down through the Flatlands. The Plain of Bronze is all but a baking desert. The Plain of Bones is a huge desolate wind-swept land with little vegetation. **''Swamplands of Silur Cha'' - arguably part of the great plains of central Allansia this land is marked out by thick jungles and swamplands. **''Desert of Skulls'' - This completes the grest central flat sweep of land across the continent and makes up most of the western coast as well. It is a searingly hot and dry expanse. To the south is a fertile sweep of land surrounding the northern coast of the Gulf of Shamuz ending to the west in the Arantis Peninsular. *'Southlands' - Beyond the Mountains of Grief are the Southlands, whose climate is markedly different from the Great Plains to it north. This is region of the continent is marked by a consistently mountainous geology reminiscent of the fact that it was this area of the continent torn apart in the splitting of Irritaria. The outstanding feature of the region is the great inland sea called the Glimmering Sea. Khul Main article: Khul Khul is situated in the southern hemisphere of Titan separated from Allansia and the Old World by the Ocean of Tempests and the Ocean of Serpents respectively.There are great variations in topography within relatvely small areas although some generalisations can be made: *'Central Plains' - The centre of the continent from the southern coast, sweeping north along the eastern side of the Mountains of the Giants and even further northeast towards the Pikestaff Plains is a vast broad lowland. At its southern end it is the Scythera Desert turning into the Wastes of Chaos in the centre of the continent. These were a once rugged but fertile region of moorland and grassy plain but were blighted by the wild magic released in the Great War against Chaos. The northeastern end of the vast central plains of Khul turn into the grassy plains of the Battlegrounds and thence the Pikestaff Plains. **''Inland Sea'' - deemed a geographical sub-region of the central plains of Khul, the Inland Sea sits in the southeast corner of these plains and is almost completely enclosed by land. It was formed by the sinking of the land after a great earthquake and is surrounded by rugged upland areas. **The Northeastern Highlands - This area is dominated by the Pikestaff Plain which is largely an extension of the great central Khulian plain. The coastline is for the most part dominated by cliffs that are sheer and as they travel inland there is a significant strand around the whole coastline that it is rugged or rocky upland area. Only on its southern side where the northeast corner abutts the shores of the Gulf of Ariona does the coastline slowly fall. *The Ximoran Plains - a vast arc of mountains separates the centre of Khul from its fertile western plains. The chain is made up of two distinct ranges, the Mountains of the Giants and the Cloudhigh Mountains. West of these mountains the land descends into another vast lowland area taking up most of the western seaboard. Swamplands exist in the northern area (notably the vast Scorpion Swamp). In the southeast of this western region the Southern Steppes meet the sea. **The Sub Swordflow Region - In the southwest of Khul are lands of rugged mountains, many plateaus, river valleys and basins that complicate an attempt to generalise the characteristics of this corner. The large islands off the the southwest of Khul are upland areas that were once joined to the mainland until rising sea levels cut them off. *The Mountainous South East - is geographically distinct from its adjoining lands being entirely cut off by the great mountainous barrier that is the Shios'ii Mountains that arc around it from its southwest to northeast corners. Within the basin that is formed to the south and east of the Shios'ii is a great fertile plain taken up by the land of Hachiman where mighty rivers flow from the highlands down to the Black Ocean. The Old World Main article: Old World The Old World is the most civilised continent on Titan, being covered almost entirely by the kingdoms of Femphrey, Gallantaria, Brice, the Northlands, Lendleland, Analand, Ruddlestone and Mauristatia. The only region without any form of government is Kakhabad, a lawless area north of Analand which features in the Sorcery! series. History Culture Beliefs Deities Titan was created by a number of deities; for a gamebook series, Fighting Fantasy had a highly developed religious lore. see List of Deities and Spirits for more details Languages Books Titan has been called "The Fighting Fantasy World" and although not all Fighting Fantasy publications are based in the world of Titan, the name is still well earned with 73 of the 89 publications that have a location being based there. This does not include the 13 issues of Warlock magazine all of which have to a greater or lesser degree an element of the world of Titan in them. Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World Main artcle: Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World The eponymous Titan: The Fighting Fantasy World]] is of course explicitly set in, and is about, the world of Titan, and this would be the most voluminous published source of information about Titan. It came in two editions: *The Large Format - ISBN 0-14-032127-6 Puffin Books, 1986 Edition *The Small Format - ISBN 0-14-034132-3 Puffin Books, 1989 Edition (new format) Canon set in Titan This is perhaps conveyed best by use of the following table. To find out in more detail which publications were set in Titan from any one of the different series shown, just click the link in the title row of the table: Development of the World The first seven books of the main Fighting Fantasy series were formally brought together in a map of Allansia published in Warlock Magazine Issue 1 in April 1984, with the obvious exception of Starship Traveller. Before that point there had been some interlinking in the books with locations or characters from earlier books being mentioned in later books. For example, Sourbelly the Troll from the fifth book City of Thieves, is mentioned in Deathtrap Dungeon, and the location of the Deathtrap Dungeon, the city of Fang, is mentioned in Island of the Lizard King. The map itself had no eastern or southern boundaries defined, suggesting that Allansia would be developed further but this would not made explicit. Meanwhile, the Sorcery! series had been set in the land of Kakhabad, a separate entity. As mentioned previously, Allansia and Kakhabad (not at this point part of the Old World) were united as being on either side of the Western Ocean in Out of the Pit, although the world of Titan had not been named. Titan itself was not a realised entity until the publishing of Out of the Pit in September 1985. The introduction to the book mentions that the monsters populate the world of Titan. This appears to be the first time that Titan is referenced as the world of Fighting Fantasy. It also confirmed that Allansia and Kakhabad are separated by the ocean, and therefore there were at least two land masses. The existence of a third continent was not apparent at this point. The only previous link between Allansia and Kakhabad is found in the description of the ZIP spell in the Sorcery! series, which requires a Ring of Green Metal mined under Craggen Rock. Scorpion Swamp, the eighth book and first one not to be written by the founders Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson, did not appear to be set in the same world, but it did make mention of Baron Sukumvit from Deathtrap Dungeon. Book 9, Caverns of the Snow Witch was explicitly related to the The Forest of Doom, being set before it and mentioning Stonebridge. As the series expanded, a number of the books explored science fiction elements and were explicitely not set in the same fantasy world, with seven of the next nine books set outside of Titan. However, the development of the Fighting Fantasy world continued. On 24 April 1986 Sword of the Samurai was published and mentioned briefly in the background the world of Titan, and introduced us specifically to a third continent of Khul, naming the other two as Allansia and Kakhabad and very soon after in October 1986 Titan: The Fighting Fantasy World was published, bringing together the strands, placing Kakhabad in the wider continent of the Old WorldRe: Kakhabad in the Old World - although the book has a detailed section on the Old World, it does refer to this continent by the name of Kakhabad in the blurb on the backcover., making Allansia as we had previously known it but a small northwestern portion of the greater continent of Allansia, and expanding the continent of Khul. It also ensured that all books that could be brought into the "Titan" fold were. Characteristics of the World of Titan from a Real Perspective Most of the continents are generic environments, though some areas or kingdoms have a flavour inspired by the real world; for example, the land of Hachiman in south-east Khul, featured in Sword of the Samurai, is clearly based on . The parallels between the major continents and the real world are considered obvious by some: Allansia, land of adventure, is . Port Blacksand is . The Old World is , with its many independent states with distinct identities and historic "War of the Four Kingdoms" ( ). Finally Khul, the "Dark Continent", reflects the western view of . There are frequent references to the Second World War in the of Titan. The Vampire of Vault of the Vampire and is "Count Reiner Heydrich", based on , deputy head of the . See Also *Book Locations External Links References Category:Lands, Realms and Regions Category:Places Category:OOTP Entries Category:FF20 Entries Category:FF23 Entries Category:FF25 Entries Category:FF28 Entries Category:FF30 Entries Category:FF35 Entries Category:FF37 Entries Category:FF39 Entries Category:FF41 Entries Category:FF42 Entries Category:FF43 Entries Category:FF47 Entries Category:FF55 Entries Category:Titan Entries Category:10AYB Entries Category:Allansia Entries Category:Blacksand Entries